>>32816516I'm a Johtodder, so this game was gonna be special even if they just slapped a new set of paint and the phys/special split on GSC. They went above and beyond by adding back a few Kanto dungeons and expanding a few other dungeons and legendaries. Also the Pokeathalon is the best side objective. It doesn't require a whole lot of time to get anything done, like contests do. I actually didn't mind Voltorb Flip. It's a decent way to get my favorite Dratini early, though it does screw you out of Porygon. However, that's not a problem cause I can trade one from Plat. The safari zone adds a few new options for mons fairly early, though I do still miss Houndour. My job requires I run about 10 miles a day so the Pokewalker is a perfect way for me to get different mons. While I'm not big on battle tower stuff, the Platinum Frontier is a lot of game to get through. Also, speaking of battle stuff the HGSS and last part of Gen 4 is the best metagame.
Other notables include: walking pokemon, itemfinder that's super easy to use, great use of the touchscreen menu, GB sounds with decent remixes, and the best spritework outside of Crystal's animation and Scyther's sprite.
Lastly, for me, 493 is the last point before it started to be too many.